Government ‘concerned’ about detention, search of Canadian reporter in China

The government says it has told authorities in China it is “concerned” about the detention of a Canadian journalist and the confiscation of his computer in China on Wednesday.

“The government is concerned by these reports and has raised the issue with the Chinese authorities,” said Adam Austen, press secretary to Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, in an email to iPolitics.

Globe and Mail Beijing correspondent Nathan VanderKlippe said yesterday he was detained by Chinese authorities for more than three hours and had his computer confiscated by the Chinese Ministry of State Security, the state’s intelligence agency. On Thursday he tweeted that he was told authorities seized his computer because “there are a lot of fake journalists in Kashgar right now.”

Official now tells me my laptop had to be seized because “there are a lot of fake journalists in Kashgar right now”

Kashgar is one of the major cities in Xinjiang, an autonomous region of China which is home to the country’s Uighur ethnic minority.

The Uighurs are a topic of particular sensitivity for Beijing, which has pointed the finger at Islamist terrorists to justify repeated crackdowns and the deployment of Chinese troops to the autonomous region.

However, Uighurs have said Chinese authorities exaggerate the threat as a means of justifying continued repression and persecution.

VanderKlippe was detained while in Xinjiang and released several hours later.

He later said he was tailed on his drive back to a hotel by Chinese police, and noted Thursday that he has since been told his computer will be returned.

Apparently I was a mere lost luggage case. Kashgar official tells me my computer has been “found” and will be delivered to me.

The incident marks the second time in a year that a Chinese officials have targeted a Canadian journalist.

In June 2016, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi berated a reporter for asking about human rights during a press conference in Ottawa, which kicked off international condemnation of China and prompted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to say in a press conference two days later that the Canadian government had raised the issue with Chinese officials.

“I can confirm that both [then-Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane] Dion and department officials from Global Affairs Canada have expressed our dissatisfaction to both the Chinese foreign minister and the ambassador of China to Canada — our dissatisfaction with the way our journalists were treated,” Trudeau said at the time.

Criticism of the government’s handling of the matter focused on why it took two days to comment on the tirade, and also put Dion squarely in the crosshairs for standing beside Wang in silence during the incident.

Earlier this year, Reporters Without Borders ranked China 176th out of 180 nations in its 2017 World Press Freedom index.